RICHMOND, British Columbia - - Shani Davis won the Olympic medal nearly everyone expected Wednesday. Not many thought U.S. teammate Chad Hedrick would win one, too.

It’s arguable which was more remarkable - the time differential Davis made up in his last lap to successfully defend his 1,000-meter long track Olympic speed skating championship, or the fact that Hedrick won a bronze medal as he skates into retirement.

“I’m extremely satisfied and very proud,” said Davis, whose three Olympic medals now leave him the second most-successful U.S. speed skater behind five-time champion Eric Heiden.

“Before, I was attacking the 1,000 meters in 2006 because I was never part of the Olympic movement or history,” Davis said. “I was on the offensive.

“Now, in 2010, I was on the defensive because I had a target on my back.  And I was rightfully able to defend the 1,000-meter title.  I’m extremely happy and beyond words to explain it. I’m super satisfied with the effort and the result at the end.”

At the first 300-meter time split, Davis had only the 10th fastest time of the 38 skaters. At the 600-meter time split, Davis trailed Korea’s Tae-Bum Mo, the eventual silver medalist, by .26 seconds, a huge difference in a sport where hundredths of a second mark the difference between success and failure.

At the finish, Davis, the world record holder, was timed in 1:08.94, Mo  - the gold medalist in the 500-meter race on Monday - in 1:09.12, and Hedrick, paired with Mo, in 1:09.32.

Davis found another gear on his final full lap, beating Mo’s time by .4 seconds and vindicating himself after he was criticized for pulling out of the 500-meter event after the first of two races Monday.

“I learned not to pay attention to things that are negative and focus on what I am here to do, which is to speed skate,” said Davis, who is from Chicago. “I rightfully earned that spot, and it’s for me to do what I want with it.

“Obviously, it was probably the right thing because it helped me with my speed. Maybe, skipping the second 500 (race) allowed me to recover, and I needed all that strength and energy for that last lap of the 1000. Without that last lap, maybe I’m not a gold medalist right now. So, to me it was perfectly fine.”

Hedrick, from Spring, Texas, has now won an Olympic medal in four different speed skating events after winning gold, silver and bronze medals four years ago in Torino. In fact, for the eight months that followed those Winter Games, Hedrick contemplated not skating competitively ever again.

“After 2006, after winning a gold, silver and a bronze, I really had a hard time finding out if I wanted to be a speed skater any more,” said Hedrick, 32, and just two more races away from retirement. “If was going to continue four more years, the ultimate goal was a gold medal, which I already had. So, I had to really dig down deep to really find a passion for speed skating again.

“With friends, family and my wife (Linsey), we had a deep talk, trying to find out what I wanted to do as a person. I decided that I did have four years left in me and the passion was still there. To be able to go out there and compete with people of this caliber after almost throwing in the towel is unbelievable. I found deep down that I still had a passion for skating.”

Davis’ passion has yet to peak, and he hasn’t lost a 1000-meter race all season. He came close Wednesday, and the final 200 meters were the difference.

“That race depleted me 100 percent,” Davis said. “My goal when I speed skate is to leave nothing out on the track so I have no question in my mind that I did the best that I could possibly do. That last 200-300 meters are very difficult because when you skate the World Cup and you’re ranked No. 1, you always skate the inner (lane).

“I got really used to skating inner and today, I had an outer (lane) finish, so it was quite a challenge. It was more rewarding in the end because it was more difficult. I am extremely happy and satisfied with the effort and the result.”

On Davis’ second and final trip down the backstretch, he broke with his normal skating form, dropped both arms and swung them side-to-side.

“I was just trying to carry the speed that I had going,” Davis said. “I felt it leaving me, and I said, ‘Oh no. We’ve got to carry the speed here. It doesn’t matter how it looks.  We want to get across the line as fast as we can.’

“I dropped the two arms in an effort to maintain the speed that I built in the course of the race. I think it helped, but you have to be very careful doing that because it can mess up your stroke pattern and your rhythm. So I used it maybe one or two strokes, and I put my arm on my back, and I tried to finish the race the best I could.”

When Davis crossed the finish line and glanced at the scoreboard to see his time, his broad smile could be seen from the last row of the arena.

“I would say this is probably No. 1,” said Davis, trying to rank his speed skating titles. “It means so much to defend instead of attack. I’ve been in a position where I was 16^th in the world and the year after, I was second in the world.

“Once you get to become a world champion or an Olympic champion, you get this nice little thing on your back called a target. People usually shoot for you.  To be able to go out there today and to win again was amazing. I was very satisfied that I was able to stay true to myself and defend my title.”